This invention relates to devices and techniques for dispensing prescription medications or other items that are prepared to a customer order and later to be dispensed to the customer, i.e., stored for later customer pickup. The invention is more especially directed to a medication dispensing unit which allows a pharmacist to fill prescriptions and load the filled prescriptions into the unit, and which keeps track of each of the prescription orders in the unit so each prescription can be easily retrieved when the customer arrives to pick up the filled prescription.
When a pharmacy customer, e.g., a medical or dental patient, is issued a prescription by a medical practitioner, the customer can drop the prescription off at the pharmacy or can phone the pharmacy to ask the pharmacist to fill the prescription. In some cases, the physician or other practitioner calls in the prescription to the pharmacy. The pharmacist then prepares the prescription order, i.e., places the medication(s) into appropriate containers, with labels and directions for use, and then places the filled order into a pharmacy bag or other container, which is then placed into a bin to await the customer. Typically, there are twenty-six such bins, one for each letter of the alphabet, and the orders are placed into the bin that corresponds to the customer's last name. When the customer arrives at the pharmacy counter, an employee retrieves the prescription medication from the bin and delivers it to the customer. Unfortunately, this has not been a particularly efficient means of delivery, as the medications can be mis-filed, i.e., placed into a wrong bin, and sometimes the customer's last name is misspelled, also resulting in the medication not being in the expected bin.
It would be desirable to employ a pharmacy cabinet in which the filled prescription orders can be stored securely until customer pickup, which will automatically keep track of the location of each filled order, and which will automatically find the customer's filled order for delivery. However, no such apparatus exists at present.
A similar problem exists for the film processing counter, which can be at the same drug store or the pharmacy, where exposed film is dropped and the processed film and prints are placed into alphabetic drawers or bins to await customer pickup.
Automated merchandise and order storage and tracking systems are sometimes used in some retail operations, for example, in the dry cleaning trade, where garments of numerous customers are stored on a rack, and a computer device keeps track of the locations of the garments so they can be retrieved for the customers. However, these are not readily adaptable for use in a pharmacy or similar environment.